Lakeside's story begins on August 26th, 1948, when a group of roughly 3 dozen people met in a hotel lobby on Ocean Drive. Land was donated just off of 11th Avenue and a small, brick sanctuary was completed the next year. These early years were marked by slow growth and transition in leadership (a new pastor every few years).

 

However, in 1968 Dr. Jim Mezick began what would become a fruitful 32 year ministry at Lakeside. Under Dr. Mezick's leadership, Lakeside's various ministries would thrive and the the church grew. Many were converted and ministry leaders were raised up and sent out during this time. Unfortunately, the final years of Dr. Mezick's tenure were marked by difficulty which eventually led to his retirement in 2000.

 

The next few years were marked by instability and turmoil until 2003 when Lakeside called Rev. Anthony Poston as their pastor. Under Rev. Poston, Lakeside slowly healed from it's tumultuous years, but it also entered a period of steady decline as the next 12 years saw Lakeside's membership and average attendance steadily drop as the average age of the congregation steadily rose.

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In late 2015 the Lord led Lakeside to call Michael Craig to serve as their new pastor. Pastor Mike arrived at Lakeside in January 2016 and began the process of seeking to bring spiritual vitality and health back to a once vibrant church through faithful expositional preaching, prayer, and a biblical vision for a healthy church.

 

By God's grace, Lakeside has seen steady growth numerically, but more importantly, spiritually. In January 2018, Lakeside added Jonathan Chancey as Assoc. Pastor of Worship and Discipleship to the Pastoral Staff. In May of 2020, Lakeside voted to officially change it's constitution to become an elder-led church and the first lay-elder, Jeff Chestnut, was voted in.

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Since then, much has happened! Lakeside began a renovation campaign that set out to completely renovate Lakeside's facilities that were in desperate need of repair and update. The roof was replaced and sanctuary renovation completed in 2021 and the rest of the project is slated to be completed by the end of 2023. In January 2022, Lakeside brought on Andrew Mee to oversee the growing youth & children's ministry. In June of 2022, Lakeside sent out the Chancey's and the Simon's to help restart a struggling church in Awendaw, SC (about 2 hours south of Lakeside). In August 2023, Lakeside brought on Matt McCartney as the Director of Worship & Discipleship.

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As we look forward we are excited to see what God will continue to do in our midst and we invite you to join us and be a part of what He plans to do in and through us!

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